Metacritic Journal for Comparative Studies and Theory
volume 2, issue 1
June 2016
CFP: TRANSLATION AND UNTRANSLATABLES - READING BEYOND BORDERS
issue editors: Mihaela Ursa, Alex Goldiș
Deadline proposals (abstract 150 words, 5-7 keywords, bioprofile 150 words): 10 January 2016
Acceptance notice: 15 January 2016
Deadline accepted full papers (5,000-7,000 words for articles, 2,000-3,000 words for book
reviews): 1 April 2016
contact: [email protected] , [email protected]
website: http://metacriticjournal.com/
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Metacritic Journal for Comparative Studies and Theory is an open-access, peer-review, online publication for
academic research, published twice a year by the Faculty of Letters, Babes-Bolyai University of Cluj, Romania. It
promotes free-access for academic work and it welcomes authors who want to share their research and resources
with their peers. It encourages, recognizes and rewards intellectual excellence in interdisciplinary and intermedial
approaches of literary culture, visual culture and theory. The journal welcomes papers in English (or, for regionally
oriented topics, Romanian) from the following domains: comparative studies, including digital and posthuman
studies; literary studies, cultural studies, including social and gender studies; media and film studies, literary
criticism and theory, cultural poetics.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------Translation is so much more today than a mere communication device or a literary appropriation of
foreign content. It has become a narrative form in itself, a cultural and a social practice supporting and
questioning globalization at the same time. Global reformulations of intercultural relations require the
critical involvement of translation theory and translational policies. Not only does translation concern
linguistics or semiotics, but also the politics of cultural interference. How does the politics of translation
function in a globalizing context that tends to annihilate the specificity of national cultures? How does
translation affect the international canon, since world literature is made of “works that gain in translation”
(David Damrosch)? How beneficial is the idea of untranslatability in the present context of conflict
management and identity crises (Emily Apter, Mona Baker)? While it may seem obvious that “everything
needs to be translated” (Bogdan Ghiu), other translation-related issues require a more detailed analysis,
involving comparisons between colonial and communist uses of translations, new developments in
translation theory (Theo Hermans), contemporary cultural “turns”, interpretations of the translator's place
in society, education and culture (Lawrence Venuti).
The next issue of the Metacritic Journal for Comparative Studies and Theory, to be published early
June 2016, is entirely dedicated to translation theory and practice, as well as to intercultural negotiations.
Cultural approaches, qualitative and quantitative analyses are all welcome. Articles should include but not
be limited to:
1. Intercultural negotiations, political translatability
2. Narrative tools in cultural translation
3. Social appropriation through translation
4. Translation as identity-builder
5. Translation markets and economic flows
6. Authoriality and authority of the translator
7. Reading in translation
8. Transnational literatures vs. translated national literatures
9. Trends in translation theory
10. Linguistic and semiotic translation
Please submit a 150‐word original proposal that clearly explains how it will contribute to, revise, or depart
from existing debates around the questions of translating or untranslatables. Both proposals and final texts
should be in English and should observe our guidelines as they appear on our website:
http://metacriticjournal.com/for-authors
Final submission should include: 5,000-7,000-word article, including 150-word abstract, 5-7 keywords,
list of references (only cited works), 150-word author's bioprofile and the author’s photo-portrait (jpg,
separate file). Proposals and final submissions should be formatted as Word documents and sent to
[email protected] or [email protected]
Useful references:
1. Apter, Emily. Against World Literature: On the Politics of Untranslatability (2013)
2. Baker, Mona. Translation and conflict: A narrative account (2006)
3. Bassnett, Susan and Harish Trivedi, eds. Postcolonial translation: Theory and practice (2012)
4. Cotter, Sean. Literary Translation and the Idea of a Minor Romania (2014)
5. Ghiu, Bogdan. Totul trebuie tradus. Noua epistemă – un manifest (2015)
6. Hermans, Theo. Translation in systems: Descriptive and system-oriented approaches explained
(2014)
7. Venuti, Lawrence. The Scandals of Translation: Towards an Ethics of Difference (1998)